My female Pit Bull rescue Kyra has been plagued for years now with hair loss, itching, and sores! Done everything from food changes, to steroids like prednisone, to allergy shots! I want to try Ivermectin, but my vet does not! I've purchase Ivermectin 1% cattle & swine 50ml elsewhere, and need to know the dosage formula for oral treatment! She is 48 pounds at present! Hope someone can help asap! Thanks!

I'm sorry I can't help you with dosage information, but I would recommend you get a second vet opinion before you opt to self medicate your girl. I know you want to help her, but perhaps your vet has a reason to tell you not to give her the Invermectin. Good luck to you with your girl.

Has your vet done skin scrapings on her? I'm assuming thats the first thing they would have done. If your vet is choosing not to treat with Ivermectin due to a clean skin scraping it may be wise to have another one done just to be sure.
But I agree with Dog Dancer, the best thing to do is to find out precisely why the vet has chosen not to treat with Ivermectin.
P.S. In my experience Ivermectin has always been most effective injected. I don't think orally dosing her would be the best option. But again, contact your vet for a more in depth reason for his/her decision and perhaps ask if there would be any harm in trying the treatment.

Why not contact another vet for a second opinion instead of self medicating with a product made for a different species? I would be worried that the cattle formula is different and could cause harm to a dog.

She's the only vet in the area! She started out having scrapings down which showed demodex mange, and gave me some shampoo that was black, and smelt bad! After about a month she had another scraping which showed 2 mites in the result! The vet said this was normal, and that I no longer needed to treat her! within days the sores increased, hair fell out, , scratching, and chewing got intensified! A return visit to the vet has told it's allergies, and was prescribed Prednisone! After about 4 months of this drug, vomiting, diareah, and a zombie like dog now almost completely bald I'd had enough! Return to the vet, paid 400 for an allergy test, results were allergies to 32 things! After 2 years of allergy desensatization shots with no results I desided to do things my way! Switched her to a veggy, and fish diet! After only 3 weeks the sores were gone yet the scratching remained! Oddly enough the allergy test states that she is most allergic to mixed fish! Funny how fish made her better no? Anyways, Returned to the vet asking questions! She prescribed Revolution, and after 2 months of this, plus her sores returned I asked about Ivermectin! She says it rarely works, and she refused to do it saying it could be lethal! So all this brings me to here! Hope this clarifies things! Is the dosage 1/10th cc for every 10lbs of dog weight?

Canadae for 6 months, and raw diet for 2 months! She refused the raw diet after that, and that's when I put her on the Canadae! Neither did anything besides getting rid of eye boogies, and glossing up her coat!

WHILE WE RECOGNIZE THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO BUY
LARGE ANIMAL FORMULATIONS OF IVERMECTIN (SUCH AS IVOMEC®)
THROUGH CATALOGS, WE STRONGLY DISCOURAGE THIS PRACTICE
BECAUSE OF THE POTENTIAL TO EASILY GIVE A TOXIC DOSE
IF THE PRODUCT IS INCORRECTLY USED.

LARGE ANIMAL FORMULATIONS ARE MUCH MORE CONCENTRATED
AND IT IS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO MEASURE A DOSE APPROPRIATELY
FOR A SMALL ANIMAL ESPECIALLY IF ONE IS ATTEMPTING
TO MEASURE A DOSE APPROPRIATE FOR HEARTWORM PREVENTION.THERE IS TREMENDOUS POTENTIAL FOR SERIOUS SIDE EFFECTS
IF IVERMECTIN IS INAPPROPRIATELY DOSED.

I would suggest a consultation with a trained homeopathic vet, even one you can contact via phone/email if you don't have one in your area.

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I would suggest a consultation with a trained homeopathic vet, even one you can contact via phone/email if you don't have one in your area.

No, I'm done throwing away my time, and money on these so called experts! I'm almost certain it's demodex with the symptoms, and results from her diet starving the parasites! Even this forums Dr.Lee has mentioned Ivermectin as an option for combating demodex! I just need to varify the dosage since my local vet will not help me! Dr. Lee if your reading please help!!

LovNKyra, it's never a good idea to use Ivermectin without the supervision of a vet. Ivermectin can be toxic in dogs with a certain genetic susceptibility. The susceptibility most often but not always is found in the collie breeds. It can be fatal to dose with Ivermectin if your dog has that susceptibility.

And if your dog does not have demodex mange it's an unnecessary risk since Ivermectin will not help. In addition, we are not vets here, and we can't prescribe dosages for you.

Is there no other vet in the surrounding area that you can go to? At the very least, another scraping needs to be done. If it's still the demodex, there there will lots of mites present. (But yes, a few mites will be present on most dogs without causing disease--the mange occurs only when the immune system doesn't keep them in check.)

I strongly urge you to find another vet somewhere and get a second opinion. If there is demodex mange present, the vet you see will give you the proper dosage of ivermectin for your dog and, more importantly, be there as backup if she reacts badly to the meds.

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Okay here goes! Before I started her on ivermectin she was on an all fish, and veggies diet, but she was slowly starving. I switched her over to the ivermectin, and also switched her diet back to dog food. She began to get worse, and worse. I now have her back on her fish, and veggies with the ivermectin but as I feared she is now losing weight again. Could someone by any chance recommend an additive to help her gain weight that I could add to her food? I've now had her on ivermectin for about 3 weeks now with no improvement.
I'm thinking she is alergic to something in the dog food. I've had her on non allergenic dog food, and she still gets the same problems as regular dog foods. On just fish, and veggies the sores completely go away within a week yet she still scratches. I'm so lost on what to do now. As soon as the vet heard I was giving ivermectin to my dog she decided she no longer wants to treat my dog in any way. I've never been more stressed, and helpless in my entire life!
Somebody help me!!

The only way you are going to be able to tell what she is allergic to is either by allergy tests or an elimination diet. AND the only way you are truly going to know the ingredients is with a homemade diet. It could be anything in the dog food that is causing the allergies. However, if you can't make a homemade diet, then one food company that I do trust is Wellness. They have a line of dog food, called Simple Solutions that has 3 different flavours:

The only way you are going to be able to tell what she is allergic to is either by allergy tests or an elimination diet. AND the only way you are truly going to know the ingredients is with a homemade diet. It could be anything in the dog food that is causing the allergies. However, if you can't make a homemade diet, then one food company that I do trust is Wellness. They have a line of dog food, called Simple Solutions that has 3 different flavours:

She's done the test as well as the desensitization needles. Tests says she is allergic to pretty much everything under the sun. Needles did nothing at all. Did these needles for close to 3 years. I figured it was a false diagnosis, and figured it may be mange. I've had her on prednizone, revolution, non-allergenic diets, ivermectin, raw diets, homemade veggy/fish diet, and nothing worked except for the fish, and veggy diet. This diet worked in about a week removing all sores, but when she scratches it is still to the point of bleeding. She is supposed to be allergic to fish so this diet working has me stumped which is why I figured false diagnosis. Only other thing that worked great was prednizone, but that made her a zombie, gave her diarrhea, and upset stomach.

Okay here goes! Before I started her on ivermectin she was on an all fish, and veggies diet, but she was slowly starving. I switched her over to the ivermectin, and also switched her diet back to dog food. She began to get worse, and worse. I now have her back on her fish, and veggies with the ivermectin but as I feared she is now losing weight again. Could someone by any chance recommend an additive to help her gain weight that I could add to her food? I've now had her on ivermectin for about 3 weeks now with no improvement.
I'm thinking she is alergic to something in the dog food. I've had her on non allergenic dog food, and she still gets the same problems as regular dog foods. On just fish, and veggies the sores completely go away within a week yet she still scratches. I'm so lost on what to do now. As soon as the vet heard I was giving ivermectin to my dog she decided she no longer wants to treat my dog in any way. I've never been more stressed, and helpless in my entire life!
Somebody help me!!

Why was she starving on the ivermectin? I'm not sure that makes sense?

Have you had her on digestive enzymes and probiotics?

Usually with allergies, you need to take a bunch of stuff out of the diet, but they also need support as in extra nutrients.

since the ivermectin hasn't helped, I'm guessing that yuo've stopped it? I think that you should tell the vet that you've stopped it - you need to have a vet that you can go to.

She's done the test as well as the desensitization needles. Tests says she is allergic to pretty much everything under the sun. Needles did nothing at all. Did these needles for close to 3 years. I figured it was a false diagnosis, and figured it may be mange. I've had her on prednizone, revolution, non-allergenic diets, ivermectin, raw diets, homemade veggy/fish diet, and nothing worked except for the fish, and veggy diet. This diet worked in about a week removing all sores, but when she scratches it is still to the point of bleeding. She is supposed to be allergic to fish so this diet working has me stumped which is why I figured false diagnosis. Only other thing that worked great was prednizone, but that made her a zombie, gave her diarrhea, and upset stomach.

Allergy shots really do nothing for food allergies, only for environmental allergies.

The allergy tests aren't perfect. If the proteins in the fish are different than those used in the test (regional difference? I dunno), then they can disagree. Some things will change also depending on the way it's cooked. For example, allergic to green beans, not allergic to very steamed green beans, kinda allergic to partially cooked!

I now changed from the canned fish to ham with the veggies. She's not starving because of the ivermectin, she's starving because of the veggies. I'm feeding her giant mixing bowls full of veggies with ham(was fish) and its just not keeping her weight up. I have not stopped the ivermectin as I was told it could take up to 5 weeks to see any results, and she's only been on it for 3 weeks. I have added the ham, complete egg, and cottage cheese to the veggies so hopefully that will help her with the weight loss. Any suggestions would be great. At the moment she is still on ivermectin, and is eating ham, veggies(lettuce, celery, apples, radishes, peppers, garlic, egg with shell, cottage cheese), and that is all she gets.

The ivermectin just makes me nervous. A Preventic collar can be a low dose alternative to help with mites (same family as ticks). We had a very itchy dog on the GSD forum - after everything, it was antibiotic treatment that worked, as it appeared to be a low level staff infection. I dunno, itxhy dogs are so tough.

Ham, usually a very bad food - highly processed, high salt, etc. Better if you can buy some lean pork (if pork is tolerated), bake it up, cut, and feed. If you are a memebr of Costco, definitely the best price - you want to get the chops, unprocessed. Fed my allergy girl this for nearly a decade.

I also used steamed green beans with her (frozen pack from Costco is most economical). The boy here seems to be allergic to them, they are in the legume family, and he's allergic to peanuts, so they must share a similar protein. Peas might give more substance, but being very starchy, might not be tolerated. Squashes, sometimes pumkin can be tolerated. For my limited boy, I feed some olives, beets (non-pickled), water chestnut, sauerkraut, a touch of artichoke hearts, and a small bit of a brocoolli and cauliflower mix. Carrots are an allergen here. I use coconut oil, and a touch of organic safflower oil when he gets o-6 deficient.

Eggs are a great form of protein and good fat if tolerated. I'm assuming that eggs and diary are not on the allergy list then?

Probiotics are important. If fish is tolerated, I would try fish oil, maybe borage oil, if it appears that oils are lacking - sometimes just these things alone can help with the itchies. I always covered my bases with a multivitamin, and a B complex.

The ivermectin just makes me nervous. A Preventic collar can be a low dose alternative to help with mites (same family as ticks). We had a very itchy dog on the GSD forum - after everything, it was antibiotic treatment that worked, as it appeared to be a low level staff infection. I dunno, itxhy dogs are so tough.

Ham, usually a very bad food - highly processed, high salt, etc. Better if you can buy some lean pork (if pork is tolerated), bake it up, cut, and feed. If you are a memebr of Costco, definitely the best price - you want to get the chops, unprocessed. Fed my allergy girl this for nearly a decade.

I also used steamed green beans with her (frozen pack from Costco is most economical). The boy here seems to be allergic to them, they are in the legume family, and he's allergic to peanuts, so they must share a similar protein. Peas might give more substance, but being very starchy, might not be tolerated. Squashes, sometimes pumkin can be tolerated. For my limited boy, I feed some olives, beets (non-pickled), water chestnut, sauerkraut, a touch of artichoke hearts, and a small bit of a brocoolli and cauliflower mix. Carrots are an allergen here. I use coconut oil, and a touch of organic safflower oil when he gets o-6 deficient.

Eggs are a great form of protein and good fat if tolerated. I'm assuming that eggs and diary are not on the allergy list then?

Probiotics are important. If fish is tolerated, I would try fish oil, maybe borage oil, if it appears that oils are lacking - sometimes just these things alone can help with the itchies. I always covered my bases with a multivitamin, and a B complex.

For foods my girl is allergic to corn, chicken, oatmeal, and carrots. Yup, I feel like if something isn't working like the ivermectin, then why continue it? So, ya I think I'll stop with that. I thought the same thing as you on the ham, but it was all I had at hand, and I just want to test it as an alternative to the fish to see if there will be any signs of improvement. Thank you for the list of ingredients also. I'll be making a shopping list for sure with that. I hope your pooches are doing well. This itching problems are so damn hard to deal with! It's pretty bad when I can't even go to the bathroom without my dog with me! lol.

UPDATE- Actually she might already have signs of getting better! All the redness is gone so I'm hope it's a start!

I would stay away from all poultry, poultry flavorings, and poultry fat, at least until she is strong enough to challenge with things like turkey or duck.

You can probably rotate in some lean beef, lamb is probably cost prohibitive. I used to give my girl eggs in the morning and pork in the evening. Max here is okay only on beef and lamb, so he gets only beef, occassionally lamb, and salmon about once a week.

The body needs nutrients to repair. I would try to find a multivitamin to help repair. You will need to add some calcium. I've been using a product called Nutramin for that, but for years I used NOW calcium carbonate. I would consider adding some beta carotene, and also zinc. You have to be careful with longterm zinc, but short term, the body needs it to heal. I would also consider a b complex supplement. I like country life's action B-50 because it is yeast-free. That is what I used for my 35 lb girl. For Max here, I use Jarrow's B-right B complex, which is probably a better product and also yeast free. Honestly, I don't know which one is really better. Vitamin C is also important, as collagen is an important part of the skin.

This would be great if she is already getting better. If this is mange (and it sure looks like it could be), then the key in the long run will be to rehab the immune system.

I would stay away from all poultry, poultry flavorings, and poultry fat, at least until she is strong enough to challenge with things like turkey or duck.

You can probably rotate in some lean beef, lamb is probably cost prohibitive. I used to give my girl eggs in the morning and pork in the evening. Max here is okay only on beef and lamb, so he gets only beef, occassionally lamb, and salmon about once a week.

The body needs nutrients to repair. I would try to find a multivitamin to help repair. You will need to add some calcium. I've been using a product called Nutramin for that, but for years I used NOW calcium carbonate. I would consider adding some beta carotene, and also zinc. You have to be careful with longterm zinc, but short term, the body needs it to heal. I would also consider a b complex supplement. I like country life's action B-50 because it is yeast-free. That is what I used for my 35 lb girl. For Max here, I use Jarrow's B-right B complex, which is probably a better product and also yeast free. Honestly, I don't know which one is really better. Vitamin C is also important, as collagen is an important part of the skin.

This would be great if she is already getting better. If this is mange (and it sure looks like it could be), then the key in the long run will be to rehab the immune system.

I thought it was mange but I've had her for several scrapings showing very little which the vet said was normal, I had her on revolution, and now ivermectin none of which made any improvement. So is it mange or isn't it? This is why I figured allergies but once again I've exasperated efforts with that to very little success. All this just numbs my brain! It's literally a full time job trying to fix this dog!

So you say pork, with veggies, and add in suppliments for vitamins, calcium, iron, ect is a good diet for my pooch?

I thought it was mange but I've had her for several scrapings showing very little which the vet said was normal, I had her on revolution, and now ivermectin none of which made any improvement. So is it mange or isn't it? This is why I figured allergies but once again I've exasperated efforts with that to very little success. All this just numbs my brain! It's literally a full time job trying to fix this dog!

So you say pork, with veggies, and add in suppliments for vitamins, calcium, iron, ect is a good diet for my pooch?

I guess I'm confused about the ivermectin, since you said she was getting better.

did you say that you had been working with a Dermatologist? I've seen dogs on the forums like that need antibiotics, and others with mange. I honestly don't know. Has she ever been on antibiotics?

I have to worry about staph, pyoderma, or even an autoimmune skin condition. I think I might have tried some antibiotics before the ivermectin, since your vet has tired the revolution, etc.

On the diet, a good diet is one with foods that your dog will tolerate, and then you need to balance it as best you can. You will have to see how she does on the pork. My girl did very well on it, my boy, no, it was not good for him at all, he's a beef boy.

I have to worry about staph, pyoderma, or even an autoimmune skin condition. I think I might have tried some antibiotics before the ivermectin, since your vet has tired the revolution, etc.

On the diet, a good diet is one with foods that your dog will tolerate, and then you need to balance it as best you can. You will have to see how she does on the pork. My girl did very well on it, my boy, no, it was not good for him at all, he's a beef boy.

Yup, she was on antibiotic which worked for the sores, but she just kept adding more with the scratching. The absolute best thing so far has been a diet change. I had it to the point of all the redness gone, sores gone, hair growing back, but still some scratching although much less than before. I'm really hoping the diet change from the fish to the pork will be the deal maker. After 5+ years I'm out of a job, out of money, and out of ideas. At some point I need to get on with my life, and realise I can't do anything else for her. Unfortunately with the stupid BSL laws that will probably mean putting her down, and that will absolutely destroy me. Please diet WORK!!!

Another option is to get some venison. If you can get some whole duck or goose, then she'll be getting 100% nutrition because you can feed your dog the bones for calcium and other important minerals. I, personally, am not a fan of chemical supplements, I prefer to get my nutrition through natural means.

Another important mineral that I didn't see MaxaLisa mention was magnesium. It is important for cell wall health. Halibut, spinach, sunflower seeds are rich in this mineral (as are raw bones).

MaxaLisa has a great point, the immune system needs to be strengthened to help in the healing.

Another option is to get some venison. If you can get some whole duck or goose, then she'll be getting 100% nutrition because you can feed your dog the bones for calcium and other important minerals. I, personally, am not a fan of chemical supplements, I prefer to get my nutrition through natural means.

Another important mineral that I didn't see MaxaLisa mention was magnesium. It is important for cell wall health. Halibut, spinach, sunflower seeds are rich in this mineral (as are raw bones).

MaxaLisa has a great point, the immune system needs to be strengthened to help in the healing.

Unfortunately I live in a very small town, and have exhausted my income so no wild meats. I do however feed her spinach. I stated lettuce before but It's actually spinach. I also feed her 1 whole egg with shell for some calcium.

Yup, she was on antibiotic which worked for the sores, but she just kept adding more with the scratching. The absolute best thing so far has been a diet change. I had it to the point of all the redness gone, sores gone, hair growing back, but still some scratching although much less than before. I'm really hoping the diet change from the fish to the pork will be the deal maker. After 5+ years I'm out of a job, out of money, and out of ideas. At some point I need to get on with my life, and realise I can't do anything else for her. Unfortunately with the stupid BSL laws that will probably mean putting her down, and that will absolutely destroy me. Please diet WORK!!!

I hear you, I have a very high maintenance dog here, and for awhile, I had two of them at the same time, and it was very risky financially. It's very difficult when you have to balance all of these things, AND they don't seem to be getting better

Some dogs don't do well on pork, some do, there's no way to tell until you try it. From the supermarket, it was more expensive, but Costco always had it $2.99 or less per pound. Compared to fish or beef, etc., that was a bargain.

Yes, I probably forgot about a lot of nutrients, magnesium included! As for the calcium, I recall somewhere reading that it was 1 eggshell per pound of meat, but my memory might be off. Extra biotin can also help with skin conditions, and is pretty safe.

It's important to take out offending things, feed nothing else, and put in extra nutrients.

Well, no change from fish, to ham, and now pork. Still scratches. I give up. This cant be allergies! So ruling out allergies, and mange, what else could this be? Perhaps, an anxiety issue? If so, any suggestions?

Well, no change from fish, to ham, and now pork. Still scratches. I give up. This cant be allergies! So ruling out allergies, and mange, what else could this be? Perhaps, an anxiety issue? If so, any suggestions?

It could be lack of some nutrients too...

These itchy dogs, they are so tough.....what if it's like three things, and you need to just hit the magical combination?

So......is there any improvement in her skin, her sores, her fur?

There are a few things left to try. The drug-free option, would be to use the herbs scullcap and St. John's Wort. Start with 2 scullcap twice a day, and 1 SJW, twice a day, taken together, and I would prefer away from food. The other thing I would consider is adding the supplement called Canine Complete.

SJW can interfere with many medications, so be sure to search for any interactions. If she is still on ivermectin, and it hasn't helped a significant amount, I would be sure to stop it.

These itchy dogs, they are so tough.....what if it's like three things, and you need to just hit the magical combination?

So......is there any improvement in her skin, her sores, her fur?

There are a few things left to try. The drug-free option, would be to use the herbs scullcap and St. John's Wort. Start with 2 scullcap twice a day, and 1 SJW, twice a day, taken together, and I would prefer away from food. The other thing I would consider is adding the supplement called Canine Complete.

SJW can interfere with many medications, so be sure to search for any interactions. If she is still on ivermectin, and it hasn't helped a significant amount, I would be sure to stop it.

Switching the dog food to fish, and veggies got rid of all sores, had the hair growing back, but still she'd scratch, and still abit of red by the end of the night. Mornings she's completely clear of redness. What does scullcap, sjw, and canine complete help with? What type of drugs are they?